I've Got A Hero
by Dumb And Dumber
Summary: All Akira ever wanted was to believe that superheroes existed. [Slight AkiraxOC, and a little bit of angsty!Akira.]


**I've Got A Hero**

"Supermaaaaan" sang the five year old at the top of his lungs as he ran around the garden with the plane he'd just assembled.

"I swear I've got a superhero for a son." Mr. Hayashi smiled as young Akira ran into his arms. He lifted Akira up in the air and twirled him around.

"Dad, you're my Superman!" Akira grinned.

-

He was seven now.

He was still Hayashi Akira, still his mother's little baby, and the Royal Prince at home. Except now there was no longer a King. No longer a hero.

He'd stopped believing in superheroes.

When his father died two years ago, and his dreams faded.

"Akira, I bought you your favourite comics!" Mrs. Hayashi smiled as she entered her son's room. "Superman, Batman, there's Spiderman too! Your Batman model will be shipped in from America in a weeks' time. I'll have it sent right here."

"Thanks, Mum." Akira fixed a smile on his tired, young face. "I love you."

"Give Mummy a hug?" She laughed, and stretched out her arms. He jumped off the bed and straight into his mothers' embrace and stayed there as she wept. "Aki… I'm sorry. I can't give you a complete family, but I'm just so tired… Please understand, Aki-"

"I'm not sad, Mum…! Why are you crying?" Akira gave a childish giggle and broke away from his mothers' grasp, smiling brightly. "I _like_ Uncle Sendoh! I'm glad he's going to be my Daddy!"

Laughing, he took the comics from his mother.

"This is Uncle Sendoh." He pointed to the Superman on the cover. "He's a hero. And I'll be a little hero!"

"… Aki!" Mrs. Hayashi wrapped her arms around her son again, oblivious to the fact that Akira was no longer smiling, and his eyes were eerily hollow and dull.

He smiled, until the door closed. The smile faded.

His own mother couldn't see what he was going through. But he couldn't cry before her. He couldn't, and wouldn't. He knew his mother had a weak heart.

"_Smile where it hurts most."_

All he could do, was smile. To smile where it hurts, and to remind himself and his mother that everything was perfect. Too perfect.

But when perfect crumbled and he was alone, nothing seemed to be real. Nothing, except reality.

His father was dead.

His mother was marrying a guy he didn't know.

He didn't have any more superheroes.

His dreams were over.

He wasn't real.

-

He sat on a swing in the park, mindlessly ripping his new comic books apart. He'd never had the heart to tell his mother that he'd given up on heroes, on dreams; or why.

Tearing up comic books was his only hobby, and favourite pastime.

Page by page, sheet by sheet. Wiping out all the memories of his father he ever had.

A seven year old boy missing his father. That's all he ever was and wanted to be. But his mother never saw that. Nobody remembered that he was only a boy, and that he was capable of feeling sad, too.

"Hey! Can you help me?" A six year old girl called from 10 metres away as he sat on the swing, stoning. "Hey!! Are you listening to me at all? My pet frog's stuck on that wall, and I can't reach it!"

He looked up. Was she talking to him? What frog?

"WELL…" She looked at him hopefully, a sheepish grin on her face. "I was thinking you looked tall enough to reach it, so…"

He stepped on what remained of his comic books and made his way to the wall, easily retrieving the offending frog. With that, he slung his bag over his shoulder and made his way home.

"HEY!" She called out again. "Thank you! You're my hero!"

_Hero? Sure._

-

A week later, he was manually shredding his comic books again, while attempting to tear the limbs of the Batman figure apart.

"What are you doing with that!" The girl demanded as she picked up the untouched comic books. "These are brand _new_, and you're destroying them just like that? Do you know how many people can't even afford to-"

"… Yeah, why don't you feed your frog to them, then." He snapped. "Go away, kid. I don't need you to – what are you doing?"

She'd sat herself down on the sand next to him and had begun ripping the books too. He blinked as he noticed tears gathering at her eyes as she stared blankly at the heroes on the cover pages of the books.

"… They don't exist anyway." She smiled wryly. "Just a pack of lies."

"Yeah. Liars." He gritted his teeth. "Big, fat _liars_."

And then they were done.

"Now, to find a bin!" She was smiling again, after crying all she needed.

"There's one right here." He pointed, more at ease after venting his anger.

"No." She stared at him as if his hair spelt the letters L-O-S-E-R. "A _recycling_ bin. Why else do you think I'd allow you to harm the environment by… by…"

He frowned in confusion, then smiled. He smiled.

-

It was yet another one of their weekly superhero-bashing sessions.

"I don't believe in superheroes." She told him, as they sat on the swings.

"… I know." He smiled. His only friend. The only one who understood. How could he not know?

"If there were superheroes, the world would be peaceful." She stood up and smiled sadly. "… But it's not."

"If there were superheroes, every family would be perfect." He stood up next to her.

"IF THERE WERE SUPERHEROES, I'D BE HEALTHY."

"IF THERE WERE SUPERHEROES, I WON'T MISS YOU ANYMORE, DAD!"

"IF THERE WERE SUPERHEROES, I'D LIVE TO SEE A THOUSAND MORE SUNRISES."

"IF THERE WERE SUPERHEROES, MUM WON'T MARRY THAT FELLA."

They panted, but they were smiling. He turned to her.

"If there were superheroes, I'd be with you forever." She told him.

"If there were superheroes, I wouldn't let go of your hand ever again." He blushed.

"… Aki…" She shook her head, her shoulders starting to shake. "You have to promise me something."

He remained silent.

"… Can you be my superhero?" She asked. "Let me believe that superheroes exist, so I can believe that I'd live to be with you."

He shook his head.

"Aki, please…" She pleaded.

"Not _you_ TOO." He yelled. "I thought you understood! But you're leaving, just like everybody ELSE."

"Aki, play basketball again." She said, seriously. "Be my superhero. Be the superhero you always wanted to believe in. Win games for me. Play for me. Be happy for me."

"… I'm _not_ happy when I play basketball." He said coldly. "I'm happy when I'm with you, bashing superheroes!"

"I've seen you play, Aki." She smiled sadly, shaking her head. "The Aki I saw, was smiling. He was laughing. I couldn't see or hear it, but I knew it was." He looked down. "The Aki I see when we're together talking about superheroes, is killing himself. Killing his dreams. And killing me."

"… I." He grasped her hand. "I'll be your superhero. I'll be there for you, just you wait and see."

-

And she waited, but he never turned up.

He wasn't strong, or fast enough. He didn't make it.

She was gone. Vanished. Poof.

He was devastated. Shattered. Alone.

_I need a hero_

_I'm holding out for a hero till the end of the night_

_He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast_

_And he's gotta be fresh from the fight_

_I need a hero_

_I'm holding out for a hero till the morning light_

_He's gotta be sure and he's gotta be soon_

_And he's gotta be larger than life_

_Larger than life_

-

"_I'll be your superhero." He smiled, looking up at the bright sky above him. "I'll be there for you, just you wait and see."_

-

If you didn't get it, the girl had some illness and she passed on eventually. I was planning to write more on it (like that her illness was inherited from the nuclear bombing in World War II, just to show that I'm a nice little anti-war girl), but I thought it was quite unneeded. You just have to know that she died, and Akira was upset. But at least that changed his character and now he's the happy Akira we know! : )

I don't own lovely Akira, sadly. Isn't he just the most adorable and sweetest thing you have ever seen in this world? I hope it wasn't too angsty for Akira – He does seem very OoC in here. But the point is that he becomes happy at the end of it all, right? He's only a kid! Review!


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